STATE COLLEGE – For as much enjoyment as there is in playing a night game in Beaver Stadium, Penn State’s players also realize that it means a change in their usual game day routines.

“The anticipation is definitely hard,” senior linebacker Glenn Carson said. “It’s one thing that I don’t really like about a 6 o’clock game but then again you get to sleep in and you get extra time to prepare for the game as well as the night-time atmosphere with the fans. That’s a special thing.”

Penn State takes on the University of Central Florida at 6 p.m. Saturday in a game that will be Penn State’s biggest test of the non-conference slate. One week after making his Beaver Stadium debut and two weeks after making his first collegiate start, freshman quarterback Christian Hackenberg will play under the stadium's lights.

Making sure players adapt to the challenges of a night game, which includes hanging around the team hotel for most of the day, finalizing preparations and attending meetings, plus adjusting their meal times so they’re ready to go, will test their patience. Making sure they’re even keel once they arrive at the stadium is a task many players, including Hackenberg, had to work through during last Saturday’s home opener.

Keeping the mood light, shuffling through upwards of 120 pump-up songs on their iPods and dancing in between warm-up drills are all parts of many players’ equations for having a successful Saturday.

“You gotta enjoy this,” running back Akeel Lynch said. “You work so hard and these are the days where you’re supposed to have fun. These are the days where you’re supposed to enjoy it.

“Anytime I go out there I try to be like hey, it might’ve been a bad play or it might’ve been a bad run or you missed a cut, but go and have fun, make the next play and you’ll see it on film next week and just learn from it. That’s the kind of mindset I have.”

For as dominant as senior defensive tackle DaQuan Jones has been this season, leading the team with 18 tackles, five tackles for loss and two sacks, Jones said focusing on not thinking during games has greatly helped him. Yes, he’s relying on preparation and week’s worth of practices to help him react to taking on double teams.

If defensive end Deion Barnes notices Jones getting too nervous or senses that his teammate is thinking too much between plays or before games, the remedy is simple.

“Me and Deion get in this little thing where we slap each other in the back of the head,” Jones said, laughing and adding that they may not always have their helmets on when it happens.

“If one of us is getting too serious we’ll come up and be like don’t get too serious because once you start focusing on that you start thinking and we don’t want to go out there and think. We want to go out there and be a fast defense and you can’t play fast when you’re thinking.”

Learning how to flip the switch from goofy sideline interactions to fierce competitors is a process several players say they've already mastered by this point in their careers. Even if they have to wait around extra long on Saturday to take the field, being able to find that balance and as Jones said “make sure football is still fun,” remains key.

“I’m not this serious football player,” Jones said. “I mean I got the mentality to go out there and be physical and stuff like that but on the sidelines I like to goof around and get my teammates in high spirits. It's important."

Keeping emotions in check will be part of Saturday night’s prep. Once the team arrives at the stadium, figuring out how to channel the extra adrenaline that comes from a night game will be an added task.

“It takes some discipline,” Carson said. “You really have to calm your nerves and not get overly excited. … Everybody finds a different way to prepare themselves for game time. You just kind of have to really find your own bliss.”